


Have your cake and eat it too

by projectliteracy



Series: Summer Loving [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Bakery and Coffee Shop, M/M, a bit longer to explain alecs background, although theyre working during summer break, fic two in the series, future fics will be mostly just about malec, the break in between the fic denotes the happenings of the first fic in the series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-10
Updated: 2016-07-10
Packaged: 2018-07-22 17:08:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7447198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/projectliteracy/pseuds/projectliteracy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of stories about the relationship of Magnus and Alec that starts out as your usual coffee shop AU :) This time round, it's Alec's summer story!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Have your cake and eat it too

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again!  
> This one is a bit longer than before because Alec is less extroverted than Magnus and more needs to be explained in order to justify some of his actions later in the series.  
> I promise that the subsequent fics in the series will be much more Malec centric. Just have to get things established first :)  
> Thanks and enjoy my imagined fantasy of Cassandra Clare's beautiful characters (mostly from the show and not the books) in a Coffee shop AU :)

Alec Lightwood had had an interesting day. An interesting first day at work to be exact. But before that, some background information on how he got there. 

Alec, or rather, Alexander Gideon Lightwood, was born to his high-society lawyer parents in order to save their marriage. Both being top notch lawyers, the pre-nuptial had been almost hermetically sealed and neither Robert nor Maryse would have benefited from a divorce. Hence, although their love life was almost non-existent, they understood the benefits of staying together. And so, they tried to at least make things a little exciting by having children. With that, Alec and later his sister, Isabelle, were welcomed into the Lightwood clan so that the name would be carried on. Alec however, had figured out his parents’ deal early on – it wasn’t hard to figure it out when one’s parents were workaholics, had skyrocketing expectations, treated their children more like colleagues and frankly, didn’t show them a lot of love. Nevertheless, that was how Alec was brought up and how he lived his life - - according to his parent’s wishes. The theme continued in his life with Alec going to prestigious schools, studying what his parents wished him to. And that’s how Alec ended up studying law, and being really good at it. Not that he would ever admit that he was good at it – no, according to him, it was all the influence of his parents. Despite what Alec believed, he had in fact finished at the top of his year in law school because he was an extremely bright and hardworking student and definitely not his explanation which was that the school administration was trying to get in his rich parents’ good books. What his parents influence did land him however, was an extremely prestigious summer internship at ‘Institute of Law’.

Now to make things clear, Alec hadn’t wanted to do an internship in the first place. But his parents had given him no choice so his plans for a relaxing summer were dashed. Over the past year, Alec had been increasingly weighed down by all the pressure and it was beginning to all be a little too much. Honestly, he wasn’t sure who he was and had wanted to take time this summer to figure himself out. So much for that since he would be the youngest intern ever in the history of the Institute as interns were usually in their last year which meant that Alec would have to work doubly hard to ensure that he maintained his family image and prove to everybody that he was truly a Lightwood. But, as his parents always said, their word was law in the family and the law was hard, but it was the law so there was no point arguing. Alec would simply just have to get through his summer internship somehow. 

Alec was understandably nervous about his first day at work due to his parents both being directors at the Institute. It meant that all the partners in the firm would be both too kind and also have too high expectations of him. For once in his life, it would be nice to be treated as a normal person and be known for himself rather than his family name. It probably didn’t help that his first day was also his parent’s first day back from their paid leave which they had taken to go on a family vacation with the children (read: they had gone overseas to scope out potential international business partners and simply brought their children along under the pretense of a holiday so as to placate Isabelle’s whining) so it was extremely obvious that Alec was their son as they all entered the office together. His parents handed him off to a young professional who would be his mentor throughout this internship. 

“It’s nice to meet you Alec, I’m Lydia. And while I trust that you will do your job, I do have to warn you that I will take no shit just because you are a Lightwood, do you understand?” Lydia said firmly yet with a smile on her face. It was clear to Alec that this was not a woman to be taken lightly so he took a deep breath and shook her hand, nodding in agreement. Lydia showed him to his desk, placed next to hers and explained the ways of the office to him. She also hooked him up to the intranet and gave him his first work assignment by placing a whole stack of reading material on his desk. 

“I need you to read through this again for me and make sure I haven’t missed any notations. It’ll also help you get caught up on our biggest cases and clients so don’t be afraid to ask any questions although try not to bother me too much as well.” 

Alec started reading and soon realized that quite a few of the case files referred to older cases which he hadn’t studied yet in his first year. He tried to search them up on his computer and then realized that due to the intranet system in the office, he wasn’t able to access the internet and therefore, google. 

“Lydia, I’m really sorry to bother you but there’s a couple of things I don’t actually know-“ 

“You’re in your last year of law school and you haven’t heard of some of these cases?! I thought you were at the top of your cohort?” She cut him off with an incredulous look on her face, clearly losing respect for him. 

“No! That’s not...I mean,” Alec quickly tried to explain and then took a deep breath to calm himself. “I’ve only just finished my first year and my parents just thrust this internship on me and honestly, I don’t know what I’m doing here…” He could feel himself starting to panic.

“Oh...” Alec looked up at Lydia whose expression had turned soft and almost as if she pitied him, “Well, in that case, I understand. I just assumed you were older than you actually are. With your height and looks, you already look so mature. You’ll have to give me a few days to prepare work that you would actually be able to help with but in the meanwhile, maybe just relax a little…you’re turning ashen. Here’s an idea, why don’t you just take this week to read up on these cases on your phone. I’ll cover for you if anyone asks why you’re using your phone.” 

Thankful for saving graces such as Lydia’s kindness, Alec’s day progressed at a more calm fashion with him reading up on case studies on his phone. The peace didn’t last long however, as Lydia got a flagged email which called for an emergency meeting over a case in half an hour. She was immediately on alert, preparing things for the meeting when she suddenly turned to him. 

“Alec, I need you to do the coffee run for me…These people can’t sit at a meeting without some drinks but I don’t have time to get them. You need to go get these from a coffee shop called ‘The Cottage’, “she explained and rattled off the drink order and address of the shop while Alec frantically typed it out on his phone. 

He was glad to leave the stifling air of the office as he exited the building to get the coffee. The fresh air helped to calm him down a bit but not for long as his phone beeped to notify him of 10% battery power remaining. Alec hadn’t realized that he had used up so much battery while checking up on case files. He started a mad dash to the coffee shop while trying to remember the order lest his phone die on him. There was no way that he was going to mess this up and be told off for not being able to do such a simple task. Alec threw open the door of the shop, accidentally banging it for it weighed much less than it seemed. 

* * *

Alec closed the door of the shop and walked back to the office. He mused to himself as his head began to clear. It had felt as though he had entered another dimension when he was in the shop. What with the beautiful décor, the tantalizing aroma and of course, the barista. His eyes had been almost magical and Alec had been so drawn to them that he barely was aware of what he said or did in the shop. It was like time had slowed…At that thought, Alec glanced at his watch and realized that the meeting was going to start in ten minutes. Pushing aside all thoughts of beautiful baristas, Alec briskly walked to the office, determined to continue the rest of the day focused on work. 

Once back, Alec passed the bag to Lydia who was going to prepare the room for the meeting. He went back to his desk to charge his phone and continued reading when out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Lydia walking towards him. 

“Looks like you’ve made quite the impression Alec,” she giggled and handed Alec a drink. “There’s something with your name on it and even a message for you.” 

‘Have some green tea to soothe those frazzled nerves! It’s on me. Good luck with the internship - :) M.B’ was written on the cup. Alec could feel his face turning redder as he remembered his exchange with the barista whose name he hadn’t caught. He had told himself that this summer would finally be the summer which he figured out himself and his feelings. Surely there was no harm in going back after work to thank him for the drink…perhaps Alec could even hold a proper conversation instead of being the bumbling mess he was just now. In the meantime though, he would just have to enjoy the drink. 

* * *

Alec left the office once his hours were up, his parents would leave much later, and since he had nothing to do, he decided to return to the coffee shop to thank the barista for the tea. It had indeed helped his frazzled nerves. Being much more careful with the door this time, he entered the quaint place. Immediately, his eyes were drawn to the barista who seemed to be very thoroughly enjoying a piece of cake. Alec froze and watched as the distracted barista gently pulled the cream off the cake with his spoon and licked it off, eyes closed and humming with glee at the taste. Alec continued staring even as the barista opened his eyes, noticed Alec and started. 

The barista coughed and waved at Alec. “Back so soon? Sorry about not noticing you enter…this cake is just too good and I’ll be damned if I didn’t make use of the staff discount on deserts.” 

“Yeah, you do look good- Uh I mean, the- the cake really does look good” Alec spluttered. He flushed again. Could he seriously not maintain his dignity in front of this guy? Fortunately for him, the barista just laughed. “Hey, um, I just wanted to stop by to thank you for the green tea. It really did calm me down a bit.” 

“No worries! I don’t suppose I could get you another drink now Alec? You look a little flustered,” the barista teased. Alec ignored the teasing in favor of smiling at the fact that the barista remembered his name. 

“Thanks but I really do have to get home to have dinner with my sister. Actually, I realized that I never caught your name earlier?” 

“Magnus Bane. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” he answered with a dramatic bow and hand gestures. “Did you really come all the way back here just to thank me for the tea or did you want anything more?” 

“Uh…I was thinking of getting desert for my sister as well actually?” Alec lied to cover up the fact that Magnus had just hit the nail on its head. 

“Well, if I could recommend one, I’d say go for the cake I’m eating. It’s absolutely delectable.” 

Alec was convinced and ended up buying the cake. While Magnus bagged it, he took his phone out to let Izzy know that he was bringing home some desert. 

“I see your phone is back in order…” 

“Hmm? Oh yeah, I charged it when I got back to the office. Just texting my sister” 

“Oh? Is that her in the background of the chat? Do you mind if I see?” Magnus asked, peering over the counter. 

Alec thought it was a bit of a weird request but frankly, he would do anything to spend a little more time talking with Magnus. He handed over his phone to show Magnus the picture of himself and Isabelle. Magnus took the phone, exited the messaging app and went into the contact list, entered his number and gave it back with a wink. 

“Here. Now you have my name and my number. And here’s your cake. Have a nice evening!” 

Alec just laughed. His instincts were right, Magnus had been flirting with him. Thanking Magnus and wishing him a good work day, he left the shop with a smile on his face. Later that night, as he savored the cake, he ignored Izzy’s questioning glances and simply let himself be overwhelmed by the richness of the cake. If Magnus was going to be around the office district, he wouldn’t mind going to work every day for the rest of summer. It seemed that for once in his life, Alec Lightwood may be able to both have his cake, and eat it too!


End file.
